Windows into Safety and Quality

01/May/2019     Health

Mater Health’s latest report into clinical safety and quality shows that 96 per cent of Mater patients rated their overall quality of care as ‘good’ or ‘very good’.

The report—Windows into Safety and Quality—describes the main aspects of Mater’s patient safety program and shares the story of patient experiences, including how Mater manages and learns from patient complaints.

Caring for 141 469 inpatients and 351 425 outpatients in 2018 and with more than 10 000 babies born every year at Mater, the report highlights three important themes:

  • Mater Group’s advanced integration across the domains of health, education and research
  • Mater Health’s focus on clinical leadership and the significant outcomes this continues to deliver
  • an organisation-wide commitment to learning and improvement.

The report documents how Mater Health has carefully integrated an array of safety and quality initiatives to actively maintain and improve safety and quality standards for patients, including:

  • the rigorous testing of policies and procedures
  • a focus on measurement and quality improvement, effective risk management and incident management strategies
  • the encouragement of open disclosure through patient feedback
  • a robust framework for complaint management

Utilising data and information derived from a variety of systems, Mater Health is able to provide rich interrogation and visualisation of its quality and safety standards.  These results are then harnessed to develop opportunities for innovation and continuous improvement.  Mater’s goal is always to better understand and eliminate unwarranted clinical variation.

In 2017, Mater transitioned to an online feedback platform to better understand and measure patient experience, known as Patient Reported Experience Measurement (PREM). This platform uses customised surveys, dispatched quickly when a patient is discharged (with their consent), to gather feedback on patient experiences.

Feedback from the patient experience surveys (PREM) showed that:

  • 96 per cent of patients rated their overall quality of care as ‘good’ or ‘very good’
  • 90 per cent of patients felt they were always treated with respect and dignity
  • 100 per cent of patients felt they were treated with respect and compassion when making a complaint
  • 89 per cent of complaints were resolved within 30 working days

Mater Health is committed to delivering a world class health service for patients across all stages of their healthcare journey by providing high quality, compassionate care in line with Mater’s Mission and Values.

The full report is available here.

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